Angry Birds Developer Rovio Cuts Jobs

Rovio, the company behind Angry Birds, one of the most popular mobile games ever created, has announced plans to cut jobs. The company has turned Angry Birds into a major franchise, with numerous game titles, toys, apparel and more. They even have a motion picture in the works with Columbia Pictures.

The company announced in a blog post by CEO Mikael Hed. plans to cut a maximum of 130 jobs (16% of its workforce) at its Finland headquarters. Rovio plans to simplify its business around three area: games, media and consumer products.

Rovio says it expected faster growth than materialized when it expanded its workforce. Hed says, "It is never easy to consider changes like this, but it is better to do them sooner rather than later, when we are in a good place to reignite growth."

Hed himself is set to step down as Rovio CEO at the end of the year. He will be replaced by former Nokia executive Pekka Rantala. Hed will remain with Rovio but not as CEO.

Cult of Mac notes that Rovio has been facing falling profits. Rantala will have some rebuilding to do when he takes over on January 1, 2015. They need a revenue boost, but the movie does not hit screens until summer 2016.

Angry Birds is by far Rovio's most popular game. However, they do make a few other games including Plunder Pirates, Juice Cubes, TIny Thief and The Croods.